Flores, Washington: Terrapin hits

The Inside Stuff

October 01, 1992|By Bill Tanton

It's not easy to find positive things to say about the University of Maryland football team, which is 0-4 and off to the school's worst start in more than two decades.

Two good things, however, are the play of a pair of Baltimore area products -- Jaime Flores and Larry Washington. Both have been honored for their hard hitting in the 49-13 loss at Penn State last week. As football people know, if you'll hit hard against Penn State, you'll hit hard against anybody.

Flores, a junior outside linebacker from Poly who lives in Fells Point, won the Hammer Award for the hardest hit by a Maryland defensive player against the Nittany Lions.

Washington, a 215-pound sophomore running back out of Randallstown High, won the Helmet Award for delivering the best blow by an offensive player.

"Larry's play," explains first-year coach Mark Duffner, "came on a pass. Larry was downfield blocking for the receiver and he really wiped out a defensive back. Jaime [pronounced Hymie] Flores has played well all year."

More important to Flores than the award is his promotion over Darren Colvin to No. 1 outside linebacker. He'll start Saturday night (7 o'clock) against Pitt at Byrd Stadium.

Things are looking up for Washington, too.

Larry was suspended from the team for the first two games for his part in a credit card violation. At Penn State last week he carried the ball four times for 31 yards.

"Because of the late start Larry got," says Duffner, "he's just starting to hit his stride. We plan to use him more this week."

Does that mean five carries? Six?

"More than that," says Duffner. "The more fresh legs we have in there, the better off we are."

Randallstown's John Buchheister, who coached Washington when he was The Baltimore Sun's High School Athlete of the Year, says Larry "is the kind of back who needs 15 carries to be at his best."

* Pitt has a second-team free safety, sophomore Anthoney Dorsett, whose father could play a little bit.

The pop was Tony Dorsett, who is in Pitt's Hall of Fame and had a great pro career with the Cowboys. Young Anthoney runs a 4.4 40 and had a sack last week against Minnesota.

* There has been no clamor this fall for a resumption of the Maryland-Navy football series, which was discontinued after their game in 1965. Up to this point of the season, Maryland hasn't been able to win, and Navy hasn't even been able to score. The crippled 0-3 Middies have been shut out in every game.

Maryland may win before Navy scores. The Terps have a good shot this week against Pitt. Maryland, believe it or not, is a 1 1/2 -point favorite.

Navy, which has lost an incredible five quarterbacks through injury, is a 32-point underdog at North Carolina.

* If you think abuses in college athletics are something new, then you don't know about Dr. G. Wilson Shaffer, of Johns Hopkins University. You should.

Shaffer, the longtime dean at Hopkins, died here last week at the age of 90. He was a man ahead of his time and his passing drew too little notice.

No one appreciates Dr. Shaffer's contribution more than Bob Scott, who came to Hopkins as an undergraduate in 1948 and is still there today as the school's athletic director.

"The dean," says Scott, who customarily sat with Dr. Shaffer at Hopkins athletic events, "recognized a problem in the '30s that college presidents are addressing now in the '90s.

"Hopkins at one time played a lot of big-time schools, but the dean saw 60 years ago what it was doing to the university's primary mission, which is academics.

"He said we had to get out of the public amusement business and play sports for the pure joy of it. Today I go to NCAA conventions and I hear the presidents talk about getting out of the entertainment business and getting back to what colleges are supposed to be doing.

"Dean Shaffer was the architect of a program here that drew national attention -- scholarships based on need, not just on athletic ability; no admission charge at games, no sharing of gate receipts on the road. He was the forerunner of the Ivy League, which wasn't formed until 1954."

Even today, Hopkins charges admission only for lacrosse. The price of a ticket is $5 and that goes toward paying some bills, especially the $50,000 cost of renting the portable stands each spring.

Funeral services for the dean were private, but there will be a memorial service for him at Hopkins in November.